Food, family and memories are as intertwined in the South as if woven on the same thread. At any function we attend, from a party to a wedding to a funeral, we are as likely to talk as much about the food that was there, as we are about why we are gathered. ~Mary Foreman

I'm your cook, not your doctor. ~PAULA DEEN

I found out what the secret to life is: friends. Best friends. ~Ninny Threadgoode

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Coconut Orange Marmalade Bread - a lightly sweetened, quick bread, made with orange marmalade and coconut, infused both in the bread batter as well as to glaze the top.

Coconut Orange Marmalade Bread

Folks sometimes show up on my site here wondering where all of the wonderful desserts are that are often associated with the South, and that are usually found in abundance on the pages of many of the other Southern bloggers out there. I do admit, a post of sweets certainly draws a lot more attention and shares on Facebook for sure! Folks sure do love their sweets.

Though I'm not as big on eating sweets as they might be, and that is why my site isn't bulging with them - and with the skyrocketing cost of food these days, my budget doesn't allow for me to continually make desserts just to throw or give away - I certainly have shared a few of my favorites here and there.

Hands down my top favorite desserts to make are the layered ones. They have both stood the test of time in longevity but they are also versatile and big crowd favorites, making them perfect potluck desserts to share. I am literally not safe to be left alone around a Better Than Sex Chocolate Sin dessert although a Texas Sheet Cake can be dangerous too - both excellent candidates for a potluck.

I also have a couple of our traditional Southern layer cakes I've shared, though I'm more apt to go for a basic pound cake or other bundt style cake, because, for me, I am not that talented, and they are the easy way out cakes - plus they freeze well. Pan cakes and quick snack cakes are also at the top of my sweets list because they are easy to prepare, but, truth is, I have far more recipes in the savory and salty department really. Unlike many Southerners, the salty taste is what I crave more often than the sweet. I did grow up on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico you know, where you can literally smell and taste the salt in the air!

Another sweet that I do enjoy are quick breads. They have just enough of a hint of sweet to them for me, and because they are traditionally made in a loaf pan, they're super easy to throw together. A simple glaze or dusting of powdered sugar is often all that is needed to finish them, if even that.

I have been playing around with some sweet quick bread batters when I ran across one in the March issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine. I liked the way that they had swirled some lime marmalade into the batter and then brushed some of it onto the top of the bread as a glaze. This orange marmalade bread came as a result of a jar of leftover marmalade in the fridge that needed to be used, and an inspirational tug from that. I loved the result and hope that you will too. There is also a little coconut in this bread, which is a nice touch, though if you don't care for coconut, it may certainly be omitted.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and baking soda. In a separate small bowl, blend together the buttermilk, butter and egg. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir until moistened; batter will be lumpy in appearance. Add the 1/4 cup of coconut to the batter and fold in. Add 1/3 of the batter to the prepared loaf pan. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the orange marmalade down the center of the batter and swirl with a knife. Add another 1/3 of the batter and swirl in another 2 tablespoons of the marmalade, reserving the rest of the marmalade for the glaze. Top evenly with the remaining batter.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes back clean. Place loaf pan on a wire rack and let bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn bread out of the pan and allow to cool completely. Once cooled, wrap with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature overnight.

Before serving, heat the remaining tablespoon of coconut in a skillet over medium heat until lightly browned and warm the remaining 2 tablespoons of the orange marmalade. Brush marmalade over the top and garnish with toasted coconut.

Cook's Notes: If you prefer your bread sweeter, increase sugar to one full cup. May omit the coconut if you prefer. To substitute all purpose flour, use 2 cups and add 2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

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I just made this yesterday and followed instructions to the letter. This morning I tried to cut a piece for my husband to have with his morning coffee and it just crumbled into pieces. I would never waste my time or the ingredients making this one again.

Hi & thanks for taking the time to come back and leave your feedback. I think that you can see from the slices in my photo above however, that it's not at all a crumbly batter and really there are a number of reasons for a result like that - too much flour from compacting it in the measuring cup, overbeating the batter and/or underbaking are all common ones. It is so difficult to determine why one person got a different result with a recipe without being in their kitchen as they made it, so I can't say why your bread crumbled, but I do still stand by my recipe.

Thanks for taking the time to comment - I love hearing from readers and I read every single comment and try to respond to them right here on the site, so stop back by!

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The classic southern plate for supper is made up of meat and three, cornbread or rolls & a tall glass of sweet iced tea.

Oftentimes what makes a recipe southern, is as much a state of mind as it is a matter of geography - Southerners simply decide a particular food is southern, and that's that." ~Rick McDaniel, Food Historian

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